Catenary hanger



Nov. 8, 1932. w, B|RH 1,886,463.

CATENARY HANGER Filed Dec. 2, 1931 LELAND W BIRCH Patented Nov. 8, 1932FFICE LELAND W. BIRCH, OF MANSFIELD, OI-IIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE OHIO BRASS.COMPANY, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO, A GORPORATION OF NEIV JERSEY GATENARYHANGER Application filed December 2, 1931. Serial No. 578,486.

My invention relates to a system of overhead support for conductors andhangers for use with such system.

The object of my invention is to provide a hanger and system which willprevent arelng between the hanger and support and thus eliminateburning.

My invention resides in the new and novel construction, combination andrelation of the various parts herein described and shown in the drawingaccompanying this specification.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is an end view of my invention.

F ig. 2 is a side or face view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with a trolley wire in positionshowing the normal relation of the trolley wire with respect to thehanger and its support.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the hanger and trolleywire in a different relative position to the hanger support.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of my system showing the relation between thehangers, their support and the trolley wire.

On most catenary systems of supporting the trolley wire the hangerbetween the trolley wire and the catenary cable is fre to movevertically relative to the catenary cable as the current collector or amoving vehicle passes underneath the hangers.

Most hangers are provided with a loop at the upper end which passesaround the catenary cable and provide a space between the eatenary cableand the sides of the loop as the hanger moves vertically relative to theeaten ary cable.

With such construction the hanger will usually make and break contactwith the catenary cable as it rises and falls.

As there is a flow of current between the catenary cable and trolleywire through the hanger, arcing and burning will be produced wheneverthe hanger breaks its contact with the eatenary cable. To overcome thisI have devised a clamp and arranged the same in system whereby contactbetween the hanger and the eatenary cable is maintained at the same timepermitting freedom of movement vertically of the hanger relative to theeatenary cable.

My invention may be applied to the various hangers'now on the market.

Referring to the drawing I show a hanger comprising jaws 1 and 2whiehmay be moved relative to each other and which are held in a clampedposition by means of the screw 3 provided with the central passage 4 andslot 5. The head of the screw is countersunk into the face of the jaw 2.

Projecting upwardly from between the jaws is a supporting member 6 witha loop 7 at the upper end. The loop is open at 8 so that the hanger maybe applied to and taken from the messenger cable '9. The opening 8 isclosed and maintained closed by a ring member 10 which may be easilypositioned as shown in the drawing or displaced at will alsflthe shortmember 11 of the loop is yielda e. I

In order to grip the trolley wire 12 I provide a jaw with longitudinallydisposed grips 13 and 14 but such grips are not so positioned oppositeeach other as to exactly register and it will be noted that the grip 14is raised above the grip 13 such that when the jaws are applied to atrolley wire the position of the trolley wire will be as shown in Fig. 3with respect to the vertical axis XX of the hanger, that is, thevertical transverse axis AA of the trolley wire will be angularlydisposed with respect to the vertical axis XX and the same is true ofthe transverse horizontal axis B-B of the trolley wire. It is apparentthat holding the trolley wire in the manner just described will tend toplace a. torsion upon the trolley wire, that" is, a tendency will alwaysbe present for the wire to seek the position as shown in Fig. 4.

My system comprises the trolley wire 12 and the catenary cable 9 asshown in Fig. 5 supported by the various hangers 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24or any number as may be found desirable or necessary. The catenary cablemay be suspended by supports 15. In placing the hangers to 24 inclusive,etc., I employ hangers constructed as above described and shown in Figs.1 to 4 but I alternate the hangers with respect to their faces as, forinstance, hangers 20, 22, and 24 would be installed so as to throw theaxis A-A in the same direc- "ase wear sion in the trolley wire tendingto swing the I axis A-A ateach hanger to a vertical posh tion and thiswill be in addition to unnatural torsion set up through the weight ofthe trol-' ley wire itself to assume a normal position.

The result of a system constructed with the hanger described will be tothrow the loop of the hanger, in the direction of the arrow showninFigs. 3 and at and-as the hanger rises and falls relative tothecahlel) the sides of the hanger-loop will be thrown into andmaintained in contact with the cable 9 thus pre venting breal'ringcontact between the hanger and cable and thereby eliminating arcing andburning. a I have found by tests that the grip 14 need not be raisedabovethe grip 13 more than 3 g to'secure proper torsion in the trolleywire and that a side pressure of the hanger hpen the cable 9 will amountto possibly 6 ounces: This would vary according to the length of thehanger;

-. Te ts have shown that the hanger so con;

striicted'and applied to a system as'described will. eliminate theburning and will not in materially due to friction between the cable andhanger and, theret'ore, the life-of the hangerand of the cable isinaterially increased. 'It'will be recognized that'if burning takesplace on the hanger it will al'so-take place on the cable and while thehangers may be replaced, but at a considerable expense, the expense ofreplacing the cable will amount almost to a teacher-rue tion of theentire system. t It hays-se that if a line were constructed of theordinary type of hanger and that the enact between one hanger and the-inessenger cable'should be broken that the shuntacti'orl of the otherhangers would prevent any arcing but experiments have shown thatinvariably arcing does take place when said contact is broken and thecurrent may amount toonly 10 to 20 amperes but this current has 'prov'dsufficient in combination with the ,number'of breaks which may takeplace in the co'urse 'of'time to bring disastrous efiects upon'boththeh'anger and cable. 7

.Ha'ving described'my invention, claim 15A trolleywire clamp comprisingan elongated supporting member, a pair of jaws st ered thereto,"each jawhaving means co teeming with each other'to engage and grip a trolleywire, the saidmeans being displaced relativetoeach other in "a vertical,direction to hold the wire with its vertical transverse axis angularlydisposed relative "tothe vertical axis'of the clamp and means gatedsupporting conductor cable.

to draw the jaws into engagement with the wire.

2. A trolley wire clamp comprising an elongated supporting member havinga pair of clamping jaws at the other end and means to move the jawstowards each other, each jaw having a ridge to engage oppositesides of atrolley wire, one ridge being out of vertical alignment with the otherridge to hold the wire in twisted relation relative to the vertical axisof the clamp.

I 3; A trolley wire clamp comprising an elonmember having an elongatedloop at one; end to receive a supporting cable, the loop spaced apart adistance greater than the diameter of the cable, a pair of jaws se curedto the other end of the member, means to move the jaws towards eachother and hold them in engagement with a trolley wire and againstshifting relative to each other, each jaw having a means arranged to fitinto the longitudinal groove of the trolley wire and hold the" wire withitsgrooves rotated a predetermined amount about the long'itu dinal axisof the wire.

4. An overhead system comprising a pair of supports, a "cable supportedby and between the supports,a trolley wire positioned below theca'bleanda' plurality of hangers supporting the wire from the cable and thehangers free to move relative to the cable in a vertical direction; thealternate-hangers ar= rangedto hold the trolley wirewith 'atorsion'altwist therein in opposite directions about its'longitu'dinal axis, thesaid twist biased t'o'hold the hangers in contact with the cable as theymove relative to the cable.

5. A oat'en'ary trolley system comprising a messenger cable, a trolleyconductor and a plurality of spaced hangers for'suspending the conductorfrom the cable in movable relation thereto, every other hanger grippingthe conductor in such manner as to set upa torsional force therein andinoppositediiections about the longitudinal axis of the '6. A catenarytrolley system comprising a messenger cable, a trolley conductor and aplurality of spaced hangers forsuspending the conductor from the cable,each hanger having its upperend movable relative to the cable in avertical andtiansv'er'se direction the sides of the member within andits lower end gripping the conductor against relative movementtherewith, each alternate hanger secured to the conductor with it'sverticjal'axis angulafly disposed to the vertical axis of the conductorin'opposite lateral'directions' and the upper end of the hanger pressingconstantly against the 7. A catenary trolley system comprising amessenger cable, atrolley 'ccinduc'tor and a "plurality of spacedhangers for sus ending the conductor from the cable, the lowere'nd ofeach hanger securely gripping the conductor and the upper end encirclingthe cable in movable relation thereto, the hangers secured to theconductor in such manner that the conductor tends to rotate the upperend of the hangers in a transverse plane to the axis of the conductorand the cable opposes such rotation whereby the hanger is pressedconstantly in engagement with the cable as it moves relative to thecable.

8. A catenary trolley system comprising a messenger cable, a trolleyconductor and a plurality of spaced hangers for suspending the conductorfrom the cable, the lower end of each hanger securely gripping theconductor and the upper end encircling the cable in movable relationthereto, the hangers secured to the conductor in such manner that theconductor tends to rotate the upper end of the hangers in a transverseplane to the axis of the conductor and the cable opposes such rotationwhereby the hanger is pressed constantly in engagement with the cable asit moves relative to the cable, some hangers tending to rotate in onedirection and others in the opposite direction.

9. A catenary trolley system comprising a messenger cable, a trolleyconductor and a plurality of spaced hangers for suspending the conductorfrom the cable the lower end of the hangers securely attached to theconductor and the upper end attached thereto in movable relation, therelation of the hanger to the conductor being such that the hangers tendto rotate in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of theconductor, some hangers rotatable in one direction and other hangers inthe opposite direction.

10. A hanger comprising an elongated support member having means at oneend to receive loosely a messenger cable and having a conductor clamp atthe other end securely attached to the support, jaws on the clamp toengage and grip the conductor and hold the hanger thereto in suchrelation to the conductor that the vertical axis of the hanger will beangularly disposed to the vertical axis of the conductor.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

LELAND W. BIRCH.

